Inside Enova Decisions, Part 1

We’re proud to feature Enova Decisions over the next couple of weeks here on the Enova blog. To give you an inside look at this real-time analytics service, we talked to Sean Naismith, Head of Analytics Services at Enova.

What is Enova Decisions All About?

Enova Decisions offers a chance for companies to outsource their analytical aspirations for a fraction of the time and cost it would take to build a team and an in-house analytics solution.

Sean Naismith, Head of Analytics Services at Enova, knows this better than anyone.

“The ability to make better data-driven decisions in real time is a challenge for most companies. How do you build a data scientist team? How do you build a development team that’s able to create a technology stack to make decisions in real-time? That’s a huge investment of personnel and resources, and there’s no guarantee of success because it’s your first time doing that.”

With Enova Decisions though, companies can skip right over that arduous process.

Naismith says, “We want to take companies that have analytic aspirations and turn them into companies that compete on analytics.”

“We’re analytics competitors here at Enova. That’s how we’ve set ourselves apart from the pack over the last 12 years. So we want to take that internal skill set and help other companies compete on analytics as well.”

Meet ColossusTM, Enova Decisions’ Powerful Analytics Engine

Enova Decisions’ Colossus platform is engineered to handle data from not just one but multiple kinds of industries.

Naismith explains that, “when you have a company that either has localized analytics or analytics aspirations, they might have a model that is very specific to a certain business problem. The issue with that is you can’t generalize it to the rest of the business.”

The adaptability of Colossus is what makes it a powerful new tool for companies looking to increase their analytics presence.

According to Naismith, “We can solve fraud, operations and marketing business problems with Colossus so that companies can make decisions on consumers in real-time.”

Colossus is a Cut Above

Many companies offering analytics services have a very specific solution set. Thanks to Colossus, Enova Decisions can offer multiple solutions.

For example, companies may be able to formulate the probability of an applicant enrolling in a specific college program or the probability of a consumer or business purchasing an insurance contract.

“Colossus can formulate these sets by generalizing and abstracting the real time mathematical engine and software stack,” Naismith says. “We’ve gone through the process of understanding and generalizing those decision-making processes to a point to where companies can answer a multitude of questions. That’s what sets Colossus apart.”

Any business that sees the value of predictive analytics and real-time decision-making should look to Enova Decisions — it’s an ideal choice for those looking to avoid the time and expense of building an analytics model in-house.

Companies can still use Enova Decisions even if they already have a data science team and internal models.

Naismith cites an example of a startup company in need of that final analytics boost: “We would work directly with a company’s internal data scientists in a collaborative fashion to host their models in real time.”

He also explains how Enova Decisions can help those without a developed analytics team and in-house models. “If you don’t have a data science team, we’re opening the doors to our team, so others will have access to our analysts and our thinking. That’s a very powerful thing.”

The Team Behind Enova Decisions

Enova International is a company that has grown through competing on analytics, and that gives Enova Decisions a world-class analytics team for areas like fraud, risk, marketing and portfolio analytics.

Enova Decisions uses that expertise across all those ranges to solve client problems and build high-functioning models.

“I’m the lead on understanding those client problems and translating that into mathematical and engineering terms,” Naismith explains. “I show how we can translate that into real-time decisions to maximize revenue, cut costs and increase operational efficiency.”

“At the end of the day it’s really one of those three things that a business is trying to do. If you can use Colossus to make a decision in seconds, your conversion rates increase, your profitability goes up and you increase revenue.”

You can learn more about Enova Decisions here. Be sure to check back soon for Part 2 of our Enova Decisions feature!